Sangha Newshttp://blogs.sfzc.org
San Francisco Zen Center News and BlogsFri, 09 Dec 2016 03:14:22 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7Featured Photo December 8http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sangha-e/~3/QbpPAyRpvxg/
http://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2016/12/08/featured-photo-december-8/#respondThu, 08 Dec 2016 19:35:44 +0000http://blogs.sfzc.org/?p=6874Mountain Home by Greg Fain. A view of the Ventana Wilderness on the way into Tassajara.

This photo reminds us of our gratitude that the summer fire in 2016 didn’t reach our monastery at Tassajara, and that the Fall 2016 Practice Period was able to begin only about two weeks later than planned.

]]>http://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2016/12/08/featured-photo-december-8/feed/0http://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2016/12/08/featured-photo-december-8/Engaged Action at Standing Rock, North Dakotahttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sangha-e/~3/QqOPq6Ujryg/
http://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2016/12/08/engaged-action-at-standing-rock-north-dakota/#commentsThu, 08 Dec 2016 18:03:02 +0000http://blogs.sfzc.org/?p=6792Wendy Johnson answers a compelling call for clergy to gather in prayer and solidarity with the Standing Rock Water Protectors.

Last week, following months of protesting by the Standing Rock Water Protectors in North Dakota, the US Army Corps of Engineers concluded that the Dakota Access Crude Oil Pipeline, which was slated to run under the Missouri River and cuts through sacred Sioux burial grounds, must take a new route.

At the source of this victory is an indigenous environmental movement of tremendous vitality and unity. For many in our Zen community, this victory comes as an inspiring lesson in grassroots movements for social justice and climate justice.

Wendy Johnson — organic gardener, author, and one of the founders of the organic Farm and Garden Program at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center — is one sangha member who heeded the call to join the peaceful protests at Standing Rock. Wendy describes her visit in the letter below.

I write you a day after the annual celebration of Thanksgiving, always a holiday of mixed blessing as well as one of love and awareness, so necessary now in these post-election times.

A few weeks ago at the end of October during the sacred trio of days commemorating Samhain and All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day and All Souls Day or El Dia de los Muertos, I answered a compelling call for clergy to gather in prayer and solidarity with the Standing Rock Water Protectors at Oceti Sakowin Camp in rural North Dakota. There, at the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers, the Dakota Access Pipeline is excavating a 1,170 mile long pipeline to carry crude Bakken Shale oil through the sacred burial grounds of the Sioux Nation and under the Missouri River, the longest river in North America. The Missouri is also the living source of drinking water for twelve million people.

I responded to this call with every cell in my body. The proposed action was immediate, peaceful and clear: clergy were invited to gather at Standing Rock for a day of non-violent training and another full day of prayer and non-violent solidarity with the Water Protectors.

I immediately reached out for support from many of you, my strong and embodied blood and Dharma family, and from the extended indigenous community with whom I have been privileged to study Traditional Ecological Knowledge and to grow nourishing Native food crops for the last five years. With your love and support the next steps were easy: I packed my Zen robes, gathered together plenty of warm clothes and winter camping gear, and carried a full jar of Muir Beach honey and a long, formal braid of Oneo, or Seneca White corn grown at Indian Valley Organic farm, to be offered as a gift to Grandma’s Kitchen, one of the five thriving kitchens in the heart of the Standing Rock Camp.

More than 500 members of the Interfaith community responded to the call for clergy to gather, a call issued by Father John Floberg who has served at Standing Rock as Episcopal Supervising Priest for the last 25 years. Father Floberg invited us to “gather and stand witness to Water Protectors’ acts of compassion for God’s Creation, and to the transformative power of God’s love to make a Way out of no Way.”

More than twenty faith traditions, mostly Christian, were represented. We gathered from the ten directions, sleeping on the floor of Father John’s churches, at the local casino, and in the smoky bottom land of the Oceti Sakowin Camp.The assembly was diverse in age and ecumenical composition. We gathered to support the Water Protectors and to listen and learn. Throughout our non-violent vigil all training and public prayer was guided and led by indigenous clergy.

On November 3 at daybreak we journeyed to the Standing Rock main camp in full religious finery. We gathered for prayer at the central council fire of the camp. Christian clergy representing more than ten denominations stepped forward to repudiate the controversial Doctrine of Discovery, a 1493 Papal Bull granting European nations the absolute right to claim so-called New World indigenous lands for their own. Following formal statements of repudiation, copies of the Doctrine of Discovery were passed to indigenous elders from Standing Rock who burned the documents in large metal bowls and abalone shells to raucous acclaim. The flame of five hundred year old words was then covered with fresh sage from the high prairie to smudge and bless each member of the clergy as we passed in formal procession out to the front lines of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Hundreds of allies and relatives gathered on the hills above the Cannonball River to witness the procession and prayer vigil of the clergy. We chanted, sang, prayed, and stood in silent solidarity with indigenous hosts for more than three hours. Representatives of every faith tradition offered prayers and blessings from the back of a large flatbed truck as indigenous members of the Standing Rock community stood in peaceful attention guarding the front line of their ancestral lands in the intimidating presence of militarized guards in full riot gear.

Around noon some clergy exited our vigil to demonstrate on the courthouse steps of the capitol building in Bismark, North Dakota, calling on the Governor of the state to affirm his Christian roots and halt the pipeline. Other clergy engaged in non-violent protest, many of them arrested for their actions.

Those of us remaining at Standing Rock after the vigil walked out to the front lines to join the indigenous guardians on the live edge of the conflict. Some of these Water Protectors were practicing Christians. We prayed together there as the sun sank low in the Winter sky. Then many of us made our way into the main camp, walking down the long, dusty Avenue of Flags representing more than 200 Native nations. We volunteered until dark, helping however possible to support the camp.

Upon returning to Father Floberg’s church I was particularly moved to learn that at the end of our day of prayer into action, two local police officers who had been deputized to guard the Dakota Access Pipeline respectfully turned in their badges, no longer willing to serve.

On my final day at Standing Rock I joined dawn prayers at the Oceti Sakowin council fire. The remainder of the day was spent volunteering in Grandma’s kitchen, helping the beloved Piute Hoopa elder and her practicing assembly of dedicated Bodhisattvas sort and serve food to hundreds of hungry people throughout the day.

I apologize for not communicating with you sooner about the courageous efforts of the Water Protectors at Standing Rock. When I first came home I found it difficult to speak. Following the results of the US Presidential election and as tensions increase at Oceti Sakowin, I am grateful for our patch-robed, cloud-and-water-wanderer sangha, willing to live and die together, moment by moment. Fierce and grounded prayer turned toward engaged action is essential now to uncover a “Way out of no Way.”

Thank you for your love and service and for the gift of practicing together in consequential times.

Yours, always and ever, Wendy

You can find current information about the Oceti Sakowin Camp that Wendy Johnson stayed at, and information on how to support the remaining protesters, at ocetisakowincamp.org

Wendy Johnson’s actions echo those of fellow engaged sangha members, including the late Central Abbot Myōgen Steve Stücky and Zen priest Shodo Cedar Spring, who are pictured here in 2013 on the Compassionate Earth Walk, a spiritual walk to protest the Keystone Pipeline. In October 2013, we featured this story, which you can read here: Compassionate Earth Walk

San Francisco Zen Center remains deeply committed to protecting and restoring the fragile ecosystems we live in. Here is our statement of environmental commitment: Environmental Commitment

“Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. Temporarily Above Water.”

]]>http://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2016/12/08/engaged-action-at-standing-rock-north-dakota/feed/3http://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2016/12/08/engaged-action-at-standing-rock-north-dakota/Taking Practice into the World – Chris Fortin and Lee Lesserhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sangha-e/~3/ye0K9dwPxtE/
http://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2016/12/06/taking-practice-into-the-world-chris-and-lee/#respondTue, 06 Dec 2016 20:32:50 +0000http://blogs.sfzc.org/?p=6779“There was a sense, not unlike in our present times, that something deeply consequential was being set in motion.”

These days it has become increasingly important to find ways to not only deepen our own meditation and mindfulness practice, but also to find ways to take our practice into the world for the benefit of all beings. Chris Fortin and Lee Lesser found themselves at a similar challenging moment in history and they turned to their own practices and experiences to offer the world healing and compassion.

“Lee and I cofounded Veteran’s PATH during the early years of the Iraq wars. There was a sense, not unlike in our present times, that something deeply consequential was being set in motion that would affect our children and our children’s children and the nation and the world going forward and far into the future.

“With only a deep faith in the simple offerings of practice and our experience of the value of supportive sangha/community, we began to reach out to young veterans returning from the wars so that they wouldn’t be left alone to carry the weight and trauma of war for all of us. Beyond any of our imaginings, eight years later the organization has become a refuge of healing and support for many veterans, and is poised to reach out into other communities across the country.”

Lee puts it in her own words:

“Sharing practice was the inspiration to begin working with veterans. When we bombed Iraq, I wanted to do something. There is so much I cannot change. I don’t believe I can ever stop human beings from going to war, though I wish I could. But I wanted to do something and what I had to offer was the practice I rely on. I didn’t know if veterans would be interested, but I trusted that if they were, it would be of benefit.

“They have been interested, and they have helped us grow and develop Veteran’s PATH over the last eight years.”

Chris and Lee found ways to bring their deepest intentions to life in the form of action that benefits all of us, much like the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra teaches. In what ways can each of us take our own practice into the world?

This year-end, we’re inspired by Samantabhadra to explore how to take practice off the cushion and into the world. We hope stories like Chris’s and Lee’s will inspire you, too. To see more and make a year-end donation to San Francisco Zen Center, please visit www.sfzc.org/yearend.

]]>http://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2016/12/06/taking-practice-into-the-world-chris-and-lee/feed/0http://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2016/12/06/taking-practice-into-the-world-chris-and-lee/Not Harming and Doing Good (in the Long Now)http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sangha-e/~3/C0-LMWvHTHA/
http://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2016/12/01/not-harming-and-doing-good-in-the-long-now/#commentsFri, 02 Dec 2016 01:33:42 +0000http://blogs.sfzc.org/?p=6707A Statement from the Abbatial Leadership of San Francisco Zen Center

We, as the abbatial leaders, would like to express our gratitude for the many expressions of appreciation and concern that we have heard since putting out our post-election statement calling for unity, mutual respect, and loving-kindness. Thank you. The true body and mind of San Francisco Zen Center are made up of all of us together who care about this community and the world.

San Francisco Zen Center Sangha members have expressed many positions, all of which we appreciate and welcome. Examples of these are in the comments section of our Post-Election Statement, and others can be found here and here. The wider Buddhist community has also expressed a diversity of viewpoints, for example, those found here and here. We have also shared some of our own further thoughts publicly in Dharma talks at Green Gulch Farm, City Center, and Tassajara — the audio recordings of some of those are in our Dharma Talk Archives, and others will be available in the coming weeks. We are energized by and appreciative of this broad conversation.

We would specifically like to acknowledge the heartfelt concerns that our initial statement did not strongly enough reiterate our community’s values of diversity, inclusion, and environmental stewardship, and our commitment to San Francisco Zen Center being a safe space for all people who seek the Dharma. While we acknowledge a range of political positions and worldviews in our Sangha, hateful speech and hateful acts are not tolerated at SFZC. We will continue as a Sangha to work on diversity and inclusion, environmental justice, and other issues.

In our “Post-Election Statement,” we proposed non-reactiveness — a pause, to remind ourselves of what we stand for and what we sit for. And now? How shall we act? We don’t need to know the full answer. Our resolution, though, is clear: to act for the benefit of all beings, for human rights and dignity, and for care of the planet and all its inhabitants.

We sincerely invite further discussion of the role of SFZC post-election, whether in the comments section of this post, with the other comments on the last post, or in person.

(Photos: Teaching Stick by Florian Brody, In the Kaisando with Suzuki Roshi by Shundo David Haye)

_______________________________________

A Post-Election Statement from the Abbatial Leadership

(published on November 10, 2016)

“Even if the sun rises in the west
the Bodhisattva has only one way.”
– Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

There was a wonderful moment near the conclusion of one of the Presidential debates. When, after countless harsh criticisms and accusations, the candidates were asked to say something complimentary about each other. They paused, the world of political rivalry stopped spinning, and then they both expressed words of praise for their fellow presidential candidate. Then politics whirled back into action, bitter and acrimonious.

Today our country feels divided into red and blue, success and failure, and we wait with hope or dread for what will unfold. Yet, in the midst of division, we can pause and realize the undivided US and let it instruct us on how to move forward together. How often powerful moments are a mix of opportunity and danger.

May this election and all that it might bring be an opportunity for each of us to rediscover our all-inclusive vow of practice that isn’t swayed by the winds of change. May our perspective and actions not be defined by the fearful dictates of animosity and division.

May this election and all that it might bring be an opportunity for each of us to rediscover our all-inclusive vow of practice that isn’t swayed by the winds of change. May our perspective and actions not be defined by the fearful dictates of animosity and division.

May all beings be free from suffering and realize the liberation of awakening.

(Photo: Detail from photo of Suzuki Roshi at Tassajara in 1967. Photographer unknown.)

______________________________

The leadership offers this poem by William Stafford.

A Ritual to Read to Each Other

If you don’t know the kind of person I am
and I don’t know the kind of person you are
a pattern that others made may prevail in the world
and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.

For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,
a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break
sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood
storming out to play through the broken dike.

And as elephants parade holding each elephant’s tail,
but if one wanders the circus won’t find the park,
I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty
to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.

And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,
a remote important region in all who talk:
though we could fool each other, we should consider —
lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.

For it is important that awake people be awake,
or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;
the signals we give — yes or no, or maybe —
should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.

Visit sfzc.org/yearend to see more from Linda, and to join SFZC as we take the next steps together to bring practice into action.

]]>http://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2016/11/16/being-inspired-by-samantabhadra/feed/4http://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2016/11/16/being-inspired-by-samantabhadra/Featured Photo November 10http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sangha-e/~3/8bgDDboWmJ0/
http://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2016/11/10/featured-photo-nov-10/#respondThu, 10 Nov 2016 20:00:40 +0000http://blogs.sfzc.org/?p=6659Residents and visitors at City Center find Café de Soleil at nearby Waller and Fillmore a quiet place to have a solitary or social lunch or coffee.

Staff members may have a departmental lunch there or meet with colleagues and practice friends for conversation. There’s wifi and the proprietors are French-speaking.

Photo by Wendy Lewis.

]]>http://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2016/11/10/featured-photo-nov-10/feed/0http://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2016/11/10/featured-photo-nov-10/A Post-Election Statement from the Abbatial Leadershiphttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sangha-e/~3/a_enZyaL7Hc/
http://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2016/11/10/a-post-election-statement/#commentsThu, 10 Nov 2016 19:53:54 +0000http://blogs.sfzc.org/?p=6672“Even if the sun rises in the west
the Bodhisattva has only one way.”
– Shunryu Suzuki RoshiThere was a wonderful moment near the conclusion of one of the Presidential debates. When, after countless harsh criticisms and accusations, the candidates were asked to say something complimentary about each other. They paused, the world of political rivalry stopped spinning, and then they both expressed words of praise for their fellow presidential candidate. Then politics whirled back into action, bitter and acrimonious.

Today our country feels divided into red and blue, success and failure, and we wait with hope or dread for what will unfold. Yet, in the midst of division, we can pause and realize the undivided US and let it instruct us on how to move forward together. How often powerful moments are a mix of opportunity and danger.

May this election and all that it might bring be an opportunity for each of us to rediscover our all-inclusive vow of practice that isn’t swayed by the winds of change. May our perspective and actions not be defined by the fearful dictates of animosity and division.

May all beings be free from suffering and realize the liberation of awakening.

Photo: Detail from photo of Suzuki Roshi at Tassajara in 1967. Photographer unknown.

The leadership offers this poem by William Stafford.

A Ritual to Read to Each Other

If you don’t know the kind of person I am
and I don’t know the kind of person you are
a pattern that others made may prevail in the world
and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.

For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,
a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break
sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood
storming out to play through the broken dike.

And as elephants parade holding each elephant’s tail,
but if one wanders the circus won’t find the park,
I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty
to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.

And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,
a remote important region in all who talk:
though we could fool each other, we should consider —
lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.

For it is important that awake people be awake,
or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;
the signals we give — yes or no, or maybe —
should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.

]]>http://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2016/11/10/a-post-election-statement/feed/28http://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2016/11/10/a-post-election-statement/SFZC Needs Candidates for Board Membershiphttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sangha-e/~3/ZmvVXybMeyk/
http://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2016/11/10/sfzc-needs-candidates-for-board/#respondThu, 10 Nov 2016 19:18:44 +0000http://blogs.sfzc.org/?p=6666San Francisco Zen Center seeks candidates to serve on its Board of Directors. We are asking everyone in the Sangha to help identify people who could contribute and would be willing to serve.

In recruiting candidates, our priorities include continuing to make the board more diverse and inclusive; adding members with backgrounds and skills in special areas such as finance, nonprofit governance, fundraising, and technology; and continuing to emphasize a commitment to our practice and the precepts.

There are two forms of board membership: “general” members, who are chosen from within the community and serve for (up to two) three year terms, and “appointed” members, who are generally from outside the immediate Sangha but have special skills or perspectives to contribute. Appointed members typically serve one-year terms that can be renewed. We currently have an opening for one “general” member for a term starting in January 2017 – but several more openings will be coming up in the next year and we would like to have a “pipeline” of eligible candidates. There are also slots for “appointed” members, to be filled as appropriate.

If you know of someone you would like to propose as a board member (including yourself), please get in touch with the Secretary, Jeremy Levie, at secretary@sfzc.org or 415-354-0376.

Thank you for any help you can give in making the governance and maintenance of our temples a vibrant and inclusive opportunity for practice.

Please join us to inaugurate a new autumnal planting date for our longtime Arbor Day tradition! In the spirit of giving thanks to the earth, we will plant with the early rains to establish deep roots over the winter.

You are warmly invited to spend the afternoon working in the lower fields of the valley:

planting a new windbreak

weeding

removing exotic invasive plants

making seed balls to spread across the land and

perhaps doing a small bonfire to make biochar (a stable and beneficial form of carbon)

Together we’ll continue caretaking this diverse and precious watershed in the company of our myriad sangha friends, working in a contemplative atmosphere among the wild elements.

We will hold this event regardless of weather, excepting torrential rains. Check the weather and dress accordingly. Bring work clothes, gloves, water bottles, whatever you need to be comfortable. Our closing gathering will have hot tea, treats and warm company to dedicate the merit of our time together. You’re invited to stay for evening zazen at 5:15 to complete the day.

You are warmly invited!

We look forward to expressing our gratitude for the blessings of the earth together.